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John Giduck files lawsuit against SOCNET, and Soldier who outed him as a Phony.

So we received this story from a guy over at the SOCNET.COM site. It seems they outed this guy, John Giduck, as a phony a few years ago after he made claims of being an SF operator among other things. But what is worse they say, is in retaliation for outing him he released the Personal Information of a current Active SF Operator. Not only placing this man’s life in danger, but also the lives of his family as this Soldier is still currently serving overseas in an undisclosed hostile area.

Seems he has been using his claims of SF training etc, to get training contracts from Law Enforcement Agencies. We have seen in a few forums where the LEO’s are now questioning that training.

He has now filed a lawsuit against everyone that had anything to do with outing him to the public. This is a big deal, as it is the first lawsuit of its kind since the Supreme Court shot down the Stolen Valor act because they consider it free speech. If he succeeds with this lawsuit it will open the door for every phony out their to launch lawsuits against websites like ours that out these douches.

We have obtained Giduk’s real records, and guess what! He served less than 60 days in the military. He could not even make it through Basic Training, but he is out their bilking many from the LEO communtiy with his “Specialized Training”.
The SOCNET guys have set up a Facebook support page not only for the SF Operator who has had his information released, but also for everyone mentioned in the law suit. You can go here to show your support.They are also taking donations to help with fighting this lawsuit.Standing with SOCnet

This guy also boasts about training with the Spetsnaz over in Russia, at some of their secret compounds, To me that makes him a National Security threat. Mr. Giduck went to Russia and publicly claimed he trained with the Russian SOF, Spetsnaz, as well as consorting with the FSB. The FSB is the successor to the KGB from the Soviet era. This item set off alarm bells with those still in government service. The reason being is we are duty, morally and ethically bound to report these instances to our security and counter-intelligence. There is no “wiggle room” on that process either.

This link is a timeline of events that SOCnet says shows Mr. Giduk’s lies, it also shows how he left the country with a woman who had just murdered her husband Dennis Yaklich. Dennis Yaklich was an undercover Police Officer for the Pueblo, Colorado Police Department. Mr John Giduck consorted with Donna Yaklich since her husband’s funeral in December 1985, apparently using the dead Police Officer’s life insurance to fund the getaway to Jamaica. Donna Yaklich turned herself in to the Pueblo PD on 2 March 1986

And more evidence that he may have even violated International Arms Trafficking laws in the Sudan.

Arms Trafficking Violations
This is a video made by his company Archangel Group, showing him training with shovel techniques he supposedly learned from Spetsnaz.

I’m telling you this guy throws up so many red flags, and for him to oust the personal info of one of our own Soldiers, potentially putting his life and his families life in danger. Is nothing less than unacceptable. You can see more about this guy on thisainthell’s blog.

Below is an email we received from the owners of the SOCNET.com site, it provides great detail into what is happening. This is going to be one of the biggest cases to hit since the strike down of the Stolen Valor act. Because sites like ours, SOCnet, POWnetwork, and thisainthell, use our freedom of speech to counter the lies of posers. As stated by Justice Kennedy in his opinion, when the SCOTUS shot down the Stolen Valor act, “…and it has not shown, and cannot show, why counterspeech, such as the ridicule respondent received online and in the press, would not suffice to achieve its interest.”

The “counterspeech” referenced in the Supreme Court ruling involves voluntary, unofficial, social efforts by citizens and veterans’ organizations to focus the spotlight of public awareness on military imposters, to enlist the participation of the press in the effort, and to shame the fake warriors into ceasing their disgraceful charade.

Email:

I am a member of the U.S. Special Operations Website known as SOCNET.COM. It is, since 1996, a place for military, law enforcement and special operations personnel to “hang out” and commiserate. It is open to the public at large and often serves as a sounding board to verify someone’s bonafides in the aforementioned careers; as well as discuss various other topics.

In 2007, a member asked about an individual named John Giduck who made claims, in writing, that he was a former US Army Special Forces Soldier, Ranger, tactical parachute instructor, etc. Mr. Giduck specializes in lectures and seminars given to law enforcement and military organizations about active shooters in schools. He based his work on a book he published (Mar 2005) about the Beslan School Siege in Russia (1 Sep 2004). As usual, several of us contacted former associates to establish Mr Giduck’s credentials. Within a few days we learned that Mr. Giduck had never served in the Army nor ever been a sworn police officer. Needless to say, it put a severe ‘dent’ in his credibility and ability to critique tactics, techniques and procedures. Several of us reported our findings on SOCNET and let it go. Lots of posers, but not a lot of time to deal with them..

His company, Archangel, immediately went on the offensive and posted very long diatribes about his expertise, duty, loyalty, etc. The usual fluff one expects from individuals with direct financial ties to posers: Attack the people who question them, but not directly address facts associated with their fraudulent background. One Archangel employee, Anderson, went as far as to physically threaten a SOCNET member. The post was archived so as not to inflame the situation any further. Anderson owns a gun store in Colorado, so the threat had some degree of credibility.

After three months of harangue, Archangel and Mr. Giduck’s proxies gave up and SOCNET ignored them as well. In November 2011, another associate of Archangel and Mr. Giduck re-opened the controversy by resurrecting the old thread from 2007. This associate, Mason, is former SEAL.
Mason essentially warned SOCNET as a whole that if we did not apologize to Mr. Giduck, there would be trouble ahead. We did some research and discovered three things: Whenever someone used Google and searched used “John Giduck”, SOCNET was the number one search result. Second, fewer law enforcement organizations were contacting him for speaking engagements. Many of us believe they didn’t call him back because he really didn’t provide any real value-added to their policies or training. Third, he just published another book on how a person can “Bring Out the Green Beret in You”. He co-wrote the book with Anderson. The free publicity on SOCNET apparently harmed his book sales.

Mr. Giduck stepped up his campaign along two lines: First, he promised to reveal Personal Identifying Information (PII) of every member of SOCNET he could find. Many of the members of SOCNET are on active duty or serve in sensitive duty positions. His first revelation was of an active-duty Army Special Forces Soldier. We later found out that Mr. Giduck used the Special Operations Association and the Special Forces Association to find the Soldier and publicly release his information. This Soldier is a Silver Star recipient (from Afghanistan) and serves as a Team Sergeant in a Special Forces Group.

Ron McCan, a former president of the Special Forces Association and an employee working at the Special Forces School, used his access to sensitive records and Army Knowledge Online to provide Mr. Giduck everything he needed to place the Soldier’s life in danger as well as his family. Ironically, this Soldier was the first to back away from the controversy surrounding Mr. Giduck when the President of the Special Operations Association, ‘Tilt’ Meyer, informed the Soldier that Mr. Giduck was in fact an ‘Honorary’ Lifetime Member of the SOA as well as legal counsel for the SOA. In other words, this Soldier had nothing to do with challenging the credibility of Mr. Giduck.

You can view the results of his efforts to reveal the PII of SOCNET membership at his web site [Editor Note: I removed the link to protect TAH readers from a dangerous script at the website mentioned]:

Second, Mr. Giduck mailed a ‘pseudo’ lawsuit (early 2012) directly to the Soldier demanding $200,000 from him; as well as contacting the Army directly to investigate the Soldier. The US Army cleared him of all wrong-doing.

Since March 2012 several of us on our own time began open-source research into Mr. Giduck’s past and post our findings. Among the things we discovered:

Mr. Giduck was a practicing attorney in Colorado. One of his last clients was Donna Yaklich, a woman accused (later convicted) of murdering her husband, a Pueblo PD Police Officer. He had an public affair with her after the husband’s death and flew to the Caribbean with her when the Pueblo PD issued a warrant for her arrest. She later returned, turned herself in and retained better counsel…

Mr. Giduck said he never served in the military. We found he enlisted in the Army and failed out of basic training after 58 days.

Mr. Giduck went to Russia and publicly claimed he trained with the Russian SOF, Spetsnaz, as well as consorting with the FSB. The FSB is the successor to the KGB from the Soviet era. This item set off alarm bells with those still in government service. The reason being is we are duty, morally and ethically bound to report these instances to our security and counter-intelligence. There is no “wiggle room” on that process either.
Mr. Giduck consistently provided background information to various organizations throughout the USA alluding to his military experience in SOF. This information is on the internet in cached files or the actual web sites.

Mr. Giduck used the ‘legend’ he created to segue himself into sensitive facilities as well as a national-level Tier One Counter-Terrorism organization. Mr. Giduck does not have a security clearance granted by the DoD or the US Government in general.

There are several other instances of his claims not matching actual experience. SOCNET has a compendium stickied in “The Lounge”

Mr. Giduck has a ‘spot’ on the Poser’s “Wall of Shame” at the POW Network web site.

Mr. Giduck finally revealed two weeks ago what his real intention with collecting and publishing PII: He filed a civil lawsuit against 21 members of SOCNET and 30 unnamed “John Does”. Case Number 12CV128, Park County Courthouse, Colorado. Rather than elaborating on the lawsuit, I’ll summarize: It’s childish, very poorly written and is a textbook example of SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation). Coincidentally, Colorado does not have anti-SLAPP regulations as do many other states. It also comes on the heels of the SCOTUS overturning the “Stolen Valor” Act as an infringement of First Amendment rights. Mr. Giduck’s lawsuit will be the first of many more suits filed by posers to defend their ‘legends’; particularly on the internet.

No doubt you’re asking why I’m writing to you regarding this situation. In short, I’m asking for your web site’s help in publicizing this vendetta Mr. Giduck has against anyone who challenges his credibility.

Below is a letter from another member of SOCNET that best sums up the situation:

“If Giduck is allowed to win this fight it will open the door for every military poser busted on this and other websites to file suit. This suit is about money. It has been from the beginning. That was apparent from the first e-mail that slipped out of his control where Giduck states that he is looking for some deep pockets to sue and win a summary judgement.

This isn’t just about SOCNET. It’s about all of us. If he wins, we will have lost our right to have a free-speech-based opinion about those who would steal what cost us so much to earn. For years this man has posed as a Ranger and a Special Forces Soldier to sell his snake oil to LE and military personnel all over the country, and he has profited greatly. His profits are now in danger due to the truth coming out and him being exposed as the poser that he is. He has infiltrated the Special Operations Association as well as the Special Forces Association and has used them against us.

The first person he attacked, MSG XXXX, is a life member of both associations. MSG XXXX is a Silver Star recipient and an active duty E-8. Giduck attempted to extort $200K from MSG XXXX through threat of a lawsuit. MSG XXXX was served this legal document after his personal information was handed over to Giduck by the SOA. Later, the President of the SFA also used his official access as a contractor at SWC to obtain further personal information about MSG XXXX which was also handed over to Giduck. Neither association lifted a finger to stand behind our brother, MSG XXXX. MSG XXXX crime? He asked the SOA President how John Giduck could be a life member of SOA,(as per Giduck’s promotional materials) when he only served less than two months in the Army. Turns out Giduck was an “Honorary” life member. A fact that Giduck didn’t bother to mention. Giduck obtained his honorary membership in SOA by cash donations and providing free legal representation. Giduck was also the “Registered Agent” for the SOA, meaning that he had legal control of the association.

This is not an indictment of the entire SOA. They are mostly of a different generation that shy away from the internet. Most of them probably weren’t aware of any of this. The SFA is basically in the same boat. Cash donations bought influence and access. I will let others speak about the SFA if they so choose, as that is out of my lane.

Bottom line is, we, and what we stand for, are under attack. Our brothers are victims of this frivolous lawsuit filed by this impostor. We need your help. We talk about our brotherhood a lot and how we will always stand together. Well, that time has come. This website is a powerful force as we have seen many times. I’m asking you to get actively involved in this situation and stand beside us. If he is allowed to win, the consequences are dire. Not only for our brothers who are being sued and whose families, homes, careers and financial well being is at stake, but for the future of SOCNET and others like it.”

A small group of us on SOCNET are trying to get the word out publicly of Mr. Giduck’s actions. We are asking your assistance, and asking your readership to spread the word about Mr. Giduck. Mr. Giduck is fast becoming a serial litigator and will use the litigations as a source of revenue to supplement his income as a speaker. Jonathan Keith Idema did the same thing as does the Westboro Baptist Church.
I apologize for the long diatribe, but I felt you needed some situation awareness regarding Mr. Giduck’s actions.
We could really use your help. We’re not backing down from this and those of us named in the current lawsuit have no choice. We’re in it to win it. END EMAIL.

So it is up to you guys to make your own decisions in this case. But this case could set a precedent, depending on which way it is decided.
We have contacted Mr. Giduck to get his side of the story, but he has yet to answer our inquiry. As soon as we have more we will update this story.

This is going to be one of the biggest cases involving Stolen Valor besides Xavier Alvarez! Go like SOCnet’s Support page, show them some love and tell them Stolen Valor sent ya! Standing with SOCnet

UPDATE 1– Seems there are documented threats of violence against defendants by Giduck alluding to his Spetznaz contacts causing harm.

UPDATE 2– Well it looks like Mr. Giduck is losing a lot of friends lately. Seems the SOA(Special Forces Association is backing MSG Clouse and making a donation to his legal efforts. Here it is as verified by our sources.

Gentlemen:

The Special Forces Association has a long established, fraternally inspired, policy of helping distressed members. This policy frequently takes the form of monetary support for specific, identified and confirmed need.

In furtherance of this policy the NBO has considered and voted to recognize Decade and Life Member MSG Jonathan Clouse, a serving member of the Regiment, as a Distressed Member. The NBO has verified that MSG Clouse has suffered and continues to suffer acute financial hardship as a direct result of his efforts in questioning the claims of a non-member who, among other statements and actions, inferred a relationship with our Association.

In this regard, the Board further finds that one John Giduck has had no relationship with the Special Forces Association; furthermore, he has neither any membership status, nor has he ever been extended any other rights or privileges by the Association.

In implementing our decision the Board has agreed to the following initial steps, as conditions warrant, the NBO may consider such other actions as it deems necessary and appropriate:

1. The immediate issuance of a check from our General Account in the amount of $2,000 to MSG Clouse for his legal defense.

2. Encouragement to each Association Chapter to assist in this effort, forwarding any monies directly to MSG Clouse.

3. The immediate outreach to both the Green Beret Foundation and the Special Forces Charitable Trust that they each match, on a dollar for dollar basis, the collective donations of our membership.”

For the Regiment
Anything, Anytime, Anywhere

VR
Jack Tobin
President
Special Forces Association

UPDATE 3

20120312 We have received word today from SOCNET that the Judge has granted a dismissal of the case against them by Giduck. The reason for dismissal was “The Court finds and concludes that the Plaintiffs’ complaint lacks
sufficient definiteness and particularity to enable the defendants to respond and
defend against each alleged wrongdoing.

Therefore, the Court GRANTS the defendants’ motion and orders that the
Plaintiffs shall have 30 days from the date of this Order in which to file an
amended complaint, which provides the defendants with those particulars.”

This is a win for SOCNET, as well as us here at Guardianofvalor, you can not prove libel if what someone says is not a lie. Not only has the case been dismissed, but Giduck must pay all reasonable attorney fees for the Defendants.

Here is a quote from the Judge in the ruling:

“Applying the settled law set forth above to the facts alleged in the Amended Complaint the Court finds and concludes that the statements attributed to these Defendants are constitutionally privileged statements of opinion protected by the First Amendment.”

The statements attributed to these Defendants regarding Giduck were blunt, uncomplimentary, and probably “rhetorical hyperbole.” But they were also privileged
statements of opinion protected by the First Amendment as applied in a litany of Supreme Court and Colorado appellate cases.

The application of those cases is a question of law that must be addressed by this Court before the case goes any further. Dismissal of the defamation claims contained in the Amended Complaint is required for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.

Very strong opinions that work to our advantage! And last but not least, this final quote and the dismissal.

The statement that Plaintiff Giduck is a “fraud” and that his credentials are “bullshit” is patently McAleer’s opinion and is not actionable. These types of statements of opinion are

protected under the rules enunciated in Milkovich and Burns.

Similarly, the statement that Giduck puffed up or fabricated his credentials and that his certifications are “a joke” is likewise protected opinion. In fact these opinions are certainly far less insulting or potentially damaging than most, if not all, of the statements found privileged in
the cases cited above. The statements attributed to these Defendants regarding Giduck were blunt, uncomplimentary, and probably “rhetorical hyperbole.” But they were also privileged statements of opinion protected by the First Amendment as applied in a litany of Supreme Court and Colorado appellate cases.

The application of those cases is a question of law that must be addressed by this Court before the case goes any further. Dismissal of the defamation claims contained in the Amended Complaint is required for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.
2. Third through twelfth claims for relief.
The Court’s Order of August 15, 2012 directs the Plaintiffs to file an amended complaint of “sufficient definiteness and particularity to enable the defendants to respond and defend
against each alleged wrongdoing.”

As to the third through twelfth claims for relief the Plaintiffs
have ignored this direction. Instead they have simply repeated verbatim the allegations from the Original Complaint with no attempt whatsoever to tie the alleged wrongdoing to any particular defendant.

There is absolutely no allegation in any of these nine claims for relief that these Defendants did anything wrong, did anything injurious to Plaintiffs, or, for that matter, that these particular Defendants did anything at all.
The failure to allege any wrongdoing by these specific Defendants in any of these nine claims requires that they be dismissed for failure to state a claim.

Just to set the record straight as some are reporting that the whole case was not dismissed against all defendants. It was completely dismissed, but we only added one of the dismissals, here is the other dimissal. Order_Granting_Motions_to_Dismiss

John Giduck files lawsuit against SOCNET, and Soldier who outed him as a Phony. was last modified: February 2nd, 2015 by Bulldog1